BEAUTY

They alone are Beautiful and Attractive (i.e., of Divine Life
or Aatamic-Jeevan) who ever abide in Holy Communion.
Those who gather in this Divine
Wealth (of Divine Life) - they alone become Deep, Thoughtful and Vast (sggs
132).
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God is mentioned
to be All-Beautiful or All-Attractive. Whatever He does is Beautiful. That is
His Nature. He is True, Good and Perfect. The man — Aatmaan or the Mool
— is also mentioned to be made in the true Image of That "Beauty" ("Joti-Svaroopa"). The practical implication is this: if the Mool (Source, Origin, Jot...) is That, then
it must also be of the nature of unsurpassed "Beauty". This gives rise
to the following question, if the Mool is All-Beautiful then why the man becomes
deeply entangled in an ordinary material consciousness ("Haume"
or false ego-sense: lust, greed, etc.) and gets so tarnished?

First, what is this "Beauty"
the Gurbani referred to? In nutshell, the essence of "Beauty" is
eternal Bliss ("Anand"). Whatever one perceives in the state
of Bliss is Beautiful. To the contrary, whatever is perceived through tarnished
consciousness is "Mailu" or "filth". In other words,
when the connecting link between Aatman and Parmaatam
is corroded, the "Beauty" becomes dimmed or obscured.

Simply put, this "Beauty"
mentioned in the Gurbani is none other than the constant abidance in the Mool within (Source, Origin, Jot...). It is through the mirror of Divine Qualities that one is able to behold
his own true Beauty. This "Beauty" alone is — only the Mool
is, whence the phenomenal world emerges like a magic show due to the movement
of the deluded mind.

Thus, it is the Spiritual
or Inner "Beauty" referred here in the Gurbani, not external or physical
looks (Maya). In other words, the Gurbani's Beauty is not in the beauty salon
— eyeliners, nails, skin, make-up, hairdo, and so on. As time and again stressed
in the Gurbani, the physical beauty (Maya) is fading, vanishing, changeful, deceptive,
temporary or fleeting. Accordingly, the bodily beauty in the Gurbani is called
"thief", "useless", "false", "enemy",
or simply "fraudulent". To put it otherwise, any beauty other than the
"Beauty" of the Truth or Pure Self is like decoration on a dead body;
for one day it must finish. Therefore, identification with it is like living in
a grave of the dead body. The Gurbani labors to make us understand the difference
between the real "Beauty" and the fading beauty as follows.

The majority of us are unable to see the Wholesome "Beauty"
of our True Nature for It has become covered with "filth" of ego or
Haume. How it has become covered? The man is endowed with free will or
free choice. The scriptural texts indicate it was not God's purpose for people
to suffer or be fearful. One suffers when his ego-guided mind no longer does God's
Will ("Hukam"). As we humans are endowed with free will, we have
the ability to choose. We also have the ability to discriminate between good and
bad or true and false or right and wrong. We are not made like machines or robots.
Also, we are not made like animals, who are guided mainly by their instinct. We
have the Divine Gift of free choice and discrimination to respond to evil or the
unwholesome temptations of the sense-objects or the temptation of the "Beauty"
of the Mool. Therefore, while we humans have this wonderful gift of
free choice, we must accept the consequences of our choice.

ਜੈਸਾ ਕਰੇ ਸੁ ਤੈਸਾ ਪਾਵੈ ॥ ਆਪਿ ਬੀਜਿ ਆਪੇ ਹੀ ਖਾਵੈ ॥: Jaisaa kare so taisaa paavai.
Aap beej aape he khavai: Man is rewarded according to his actions; as he sows,
so does he eats or reaps (sggs 662).

On account of the wrong choices (ego-guided
actions, Mayaic efforts...), we confound the Mool with the physical frame and develop attachment
towards the illusory world of the senses (Maya). Thus, in ignorance of our True
Nature — which is all "Beauty" — we collect the seashell mistaking it
for silver! Once the True Nature (Pure Consciousness) gets so tarnished with the
body-bound ego, the miraze-like universe of names and shapes streams forth like
waves from the see.

As the Gurbani repeatedly holds, we are That "Beauty"
Itself — Jot-Svaroopa. Therefore, the Gurbani's advice to mankind is to
become Gurmukh (Spiritual Being...), and then see one's own "Beauty"
within. The more one comes closer and closer to this "Beauty", the more
he will be in Love with It. In other words, the real Wisdom is the comprehension
of this "Beauty", which remains ever-fresh. It is told the moment one
becomes linked to this "Beauty" (one's True Essence) within — the state
of Truthfulness or the state of absorption in Naam- or Shabad-Consciousness
— one's body-mind-intellect apparatus blossoms forth with the Natural "Beauty",
which never fades. In other words, external beauty becomes meaningful only when
one realizes Spiritual Life or Spiritual Beauty within (Aatamic-Jeevan or
Gurmukhtaa).

ਸਭ ਕੈ ਮਧਿ ਸਗਲ ਤੇ ਉਦਾਸ ॥ . ..: Sabh kai madh sagal thae oudaas...: Live in the midst of all,
and yet detached from all (Maya); Beauty, Intelligence, and the Realization of
Reality; even-vision, and seeing all as One — says Nanak, these blessings come
to one who chants and hears the Word (sgss 296).